Protecting You
by DarkestCornerOfMyMind
Summary: Slightly AU. What if Hibari and Chrome were chosen to be in 'Choice? What would happen if Chrome was the target? Will Hibari finally bother to protect another? 1896


I swear, if this actually happens in the manga or anime, I will get a tattoo that screams "I LOVE AMANO AKIRA!!!"

Ehehehe, first ever 1896 oneshot, please go easy on me!

Mukuro: Kufufu... My cute Chrome and that stupid bird...? *takes our trident*

72669: Eep!! *runs away*

* * *

They were outnumbered.

Hibari cursed. Out of all the herbivores on the Vongola's side, he just had to get stuck with the Mist Guardian.

She wasn't Mukuro, but she was his vessel, and completely worshipped him. That was bad enough.

Worse to worse, the Mist Guardian - Chrome Dokuro, he thought her name was - had been made the target. He glanced at the shining beacon emitting Mist Flames on her chest. She was completely exhausted, and anymore strain on her body might make her organs start disappearing.

On the Millefiore's side, they had five members. The Millefiore's Storm Guardian (who was the target), two Lightning users, a Rain user, and another Mist user (the Guardians of those elements had been lazy, and had sent some of their subordinates instead). There had been two more, non-elemental users, but Hibari had taken care of them already. Unfortunately, one of them had managed to make cracks on Hibari's tonfa. Another heavy blow with them, Hibari brooded, would probably make them shatter in to pieces.

They were currently in a Mist battlefield, which was an overgrown jungle with fog obscuring their vision. The others that were waiting in a special, protected building, were panicking because they could not see the ones that were fighting. Hibari, having trained in a place similar to this with the Bucking Horse Dino during the Varia battles, had a slight advantage. On the the other hand, Chrome had almost gotten taken out numerous times, in which Hibari always arrived in time to haul her out of danger. The two Guardians were now hiding in a clump of trees, Chrome having barely enough energy to make a cover for them. Hibari scowled at the thought of her protecting him.

"Cloud Man..." Chrome caught his attention. She was panting softly from effort to keep the illusion up. "What should we do?"

"What _you _should do," Hibari glared at her, "is stay out of my way. Currently, you are of no use."

Chrome's eye flashed and she frowned at him, speaking softly, but sternly. "I am doing my best to be of use to Boss. You are the not the judge of me. You don't even _want_ to be here."

Hibari was mildly surprised (and secretly pleased) that this timid girl, several years younger than him, had a backbone. Perhaps she was not just Mukuro's pet after all.

"Hn," he only grunted.

Chrome gave a soft gasp as she suddenly felt something push at her illusion and break it. She gave a cry, and Hibari whipped around to face the Millefiore's Mist user and Lightning user.

Scowling, he checked the weapons that they were using. The Mist user did not seem to have anything, but the Lightning user was wielding a gun. Getting hit by one of the hardened bullets would be painful, and hinder them greatly.

As Chrome sent a column of fire at the Lightning user, Hibari moved forwards to attack the Mist user, who made copies of himself. Hibari stopped and focused.

**_~Flashback~_**

**_"Kyouya, your future self used a special trick to detect what is an illusion, and what is real," Dino told his student. "By emitting a weak flame from the Vongola Cloud Ring, he used it like a radar to track of where the Mist user is hiding. Why don't you try it?"_**

**_"No," Hibari said simply, yawned, and then turned to walk away. _**

**_"Kyouya!"_**

**_A few minutes later, Dino found his student sitting up in a tree, concentrating on the Vongola Ring, flickers of Cloud Flames going on and off. Dino shook his head, and smiled._**

**_~End Flashback~_**

He found the real Mist user in no time flat, and dealt him a harsh blow. The Mist user crumpled. The tonfa cracked even more and chipped off in several places. Hibari looked down at the Millefiore's illusionist with distaste.

Weak, Hibari thought. Those that protected themselves with illusions were not physically powerful themselves, Hibari had learned.

That would go the same for Chrome Dokuro. Hibari turned in time to see her stumble over a tree root and fall. The Lightning user advanced on her.

Hibari came up from behind and smashed the tonfa in to the Lightning user's head. Evidently, however, it seemed that he had used the Lightning attribute of hardening on his own head. The tonfa broke in to pieces.

The Lightning user laughed and spoke, a raspy man's voice. "Ha! You won't be so tough without those, now will you?"

"Wrong," Hibari told him, grabbing the taller man by the sleeve and heaved him over his shoulder in a Judo throw. "I'm perfectly capable of fighting without them. I just use them to inflict more damage and to not get my hands dirty."

The man slammed in to the ground with a groan. Hibari let go of his sleeve and walked over to Chrome, frowning.

"Thank you," Chrome said quietly.

"Herbivore," Hibari said curtly. "Stand up on your own. Or do you depend on Rokudo Mukuro to move those things you call legs?"

Surprisingly, Chrome smiled slightly and stood up. "Your future self told me something along those same lines," she said. "He told me to live on my own, to depend on my own power. He also said," Chrome's smile actually turned slightly mischievous, "that if I died, everyone, including you, would be in trouble."

Hibari frowned and resolved to bite his future self to death for saying such an herbivorous statement. He would be in trouble if the one in front of him died?

There was a click, and then Hibari's eyes widened. He suddenly tackled Chrome around the waist and held her down.

Chrome gave a little shriek of surprise at the unpredicted movement, and fell back with a thump. She momentarily panicked. Was the Cloud Man going to bite her to death? In a whole different way?

Her terror gave out to another terror as she heard a bang. Above her, Hibari gave a sharp wince and his shoulder bled as a bullet ripped through it. Chrome gasped. Hibari had not tried to hurt her, he was shielding her with his own body. The Lightning user from behind them had gotten back up, and was pointing his gun at Hibari's unprotected back.

Before he could make another shot, however, Hibari had jumped up, grabbed Chrome's trident, and slammed it in to the other man's head. Said man gave a strangled yell of pain and fell. Hibari then grabbed Chrome around the waist, tossed her over his good shoulder, and ran.

Chrome was surprised at this action and was even more surprised that Hibari had actually thought to save her. He put her down, panting, when they had gotten a good distance away.

"I suppose my future self was right," he muttered, looking rather unhappy. Chrome blinked in confusion.

Hibari turned to look at her. "The things that I hate most in this world," he stated, "are undisciplined people who cause trouble in my Namimori, Rokudo Mukuro, herbivores, owning others favors, and being reliant on other people."

Chrome looked at him, nonplussed. What was he going on about?

"But," Hibari continued, "the thing I hate even more than that is losing. And if you get hurt, we lose."

Chrome blinked in surprise at this statement.

"If that's the case, then," Hibari bore his eyes in to her one eye, "in order to not lose, I will protect you with my life. Even if it means having to take a bullet for you."

Chrome felt her face grow warm.

"Understand? That is the only reason."

Chrome nodded, then she reached out and gingerly touched the wound. Hibari barely flinched, but she could feel his muscles contract in pain. Chrome closed her eyes and concentrated on fixing that wound.

The illusion worked and Hibari's shoulder looked and felt healed. He rolled his shoulder experimentally, before turning to her and frowning with something that might have been slight concern.

"You should at least save your strength," he told her.

Chrome smiled. "I'm okay. And I want you to owe me a favor."

She giggled at the glare that he threw her and his muttered comment of, "I'll bite you to death." The Vongola's Cloud Guardian was surprisingly noble, and much more gentle than she had imagined.

She looked pensive for a moment, before speaking to him again.

"And I owe you a thank you for saving me back there."

"It's not necessary," he grumbled.

Chrome ignored him, walked up, and gently kissed him on the cheek. Hibari pulled away, looking stunned.

"What was that?"

"A thank you. Mukuro-sama told me that kisses were the best way to thank someone."

Hibari just stared at her, then quickly turned away. Unseen by Chrome, his cheeks were starting to go pink against his will. Hibari cursed, not for the first time since this whole thing had started. He found himself subconsciously agreeing with Mukuro, then mentally kicked himself for the thought.

Suddenly, there was a crash as a tree next to them fell, revealing the Millefiore's Storm Guardian, who looked mildly surprised at seeing the two of them there.

"Sorry, did I interrupt something?" the Storm man grinned.

Chrome held her trident at the ready, before Hibari suddenly grabbed her and ran again. The other three Millefiore members had shown up, and Hibari wasn't going to take them on just yet.

When they stopped at a place, Chrome was about to ask Hibari what he was doing, before she felt lips on hers and she widened her eyes in surprise before fluttering them closed. For a social recluse, Cloud Man was a surprisingly good kisser.

"That's for healing my shoulder," he murmured in to her ear, sending pleasant shivers up her spine. "And you owe me a lot more 'thank you's' for all those other times I saved you."

Chrome blushed, and despite the situation, buried her face in his chest and giggled nervously. "What about the time your future self saved me from my death and told me to believe in myself?"

"I'll let your future self deal with that," Hibari said calmly, pushing her away and getting in to a battle position. "But for something like that, it'd should be something better than just a kiss."

Chrome's face turned even more red, but she also got in to a ready position, just as the Millefiore burst through the trees.

Throughout the battle, in the back of her mind, Chrome vaguely wondered if Cloud Man would allow her to call him by his first name.

* * *

I know that they kiss probably has no chances of happening in the manga or anime, but if Hibari ever says, "I'll protect you" to Chrome, I will DIE of happiness XDD.

I have no idea who the Storm Guardian of Millefiore is, though I'm pretty sure it's Zakuro, or whatever his name is (though he also could be Lightning, and I'm pretty sure that Bluebell is Rain?), so give me a break.

Review or I'll send Mukuro and Hibari to fight at your house.

Hmm, that's not a very good threat...

Review or I'll write a drabble of Glo Xinia raping five-year-old I-Pin.

Much better.


End file.
